Go-To Oven Baked Meatballs

Hi there, today we are making my go-to oven baked meatballs. These meatballs are super tender and flavorful. I’ve made hundreds, maybe even thousands of these over the years.

Why You’ll Love This

These meatballs are super tender and flavorful.

I’ve made hundreds, maybe even thousands of these over the years.

So I’ve got a few tricks up my sleeve to help you make them perfectly.

I’m going to show you how to make them perfectly every single time.

I like to use that mixture because I feel like it gives the perfect texture for the meatballs.

I like when the onion, I love the flavor of onion, but I like when it just kind of melts into the meatball.

I don’t want to bite into my meatball and have a big piece of onion coming back at me.

Nobody wants a tough meatball. We want nice, tender, pillowy meatballs.

I find that that gives a really tender meatball.

Very flexible. That’s the great thing about meatballs. And this is a good all purpose recipe.

Ingredients

• seasoned breadcrumbs
• milk
• blend of beef, veal, and pork
• onion
• minced garlic
• an egg
• grated Parmesan cheese
• Worcestershire sauce
• all-purpose seasoning
• Italian seasoning
• crushed red peppers

Instructions

1. Okay, so the first thing we need to do to make our oven baked meatballs is to make a panade.
2. And that’s basically just a mixture of breadcrumbs and milk.
3. I pour my milk in there and I’m just going to use my fingers.
4. I’m just mixing it up to try to hydrate as much of the breadcrumb as possible.
5. To our mixing bowl, we are going to add our meat.
6. First trick in these meatballs is we’re going to grate the onion that goes in.
7. I’m going to put a large grater over my bowl, and I’m just going to run the onion right over top of it.
8. Next, we’re going to add some minced garlic.
9. So I’m going to add an egg.
10. And then to this, I’m going to add some grated Parmesan cheese.
11. And then a little bit of Worcestershire sauce.
12. And then last but not least, we’re going to add some seasonings here.
13. So here I have my all-purpose seasoning.
14. I have some Italian seasoning.
15. And some crushed red peppers to just give it a little bit of zing.
16. So all three go in.
17. And then we’re going to bring back our breadcrumbs that have been hydrated.
18. And then we’re going to mix this until it all comes together nicely.
19. I’m just using my fingers.
20. I’m not trying to be too rough with it.
21. And I’m kind of breaking up the breadcrumb mixture as I go.
22. I’m going to clean up my hands and bring out my baking sheet.
23. So here I have a foil lined baking sheet.
24. I like to use my trusty cookie scoop for this.
25. So I just scoop and roll.
26. And we’ll just repeat this process until our mixture is all used up.
27. You can keep them nice and close.
28. You do want to give a little bit of space around them.
29. Okay, so our meatballs are all rolled.
30. We’re going to pop these in the oven, bake them.

Cooking Tips

Now, as always, when you get to the bottom, watch your fingers because flesh is not part of the ingredient list, nor is fingernail.

I actually like to stop before I get right to the very bottom, just so we don’t end up with that situation.

Another easier way to do this, and if I’m making a big batch, I’ll actually do it this way, is I can run it through my food processor and get the same texture without grating it.

I like to use my hands for this over a mixture because this way I know I’m not going to overmix the meat.

If you overmix it, it will get tough.

If you don’t have nonstick foil, just give a nonstick coating of nonstick spray to regular foil and you’re fine.

You don’t have to worry about spreading these out too far on the sheet because meatballs don’t spread.

So you can keep them nice and close.

You don’t want to pack them in too tight because then they’ll steam, but you do want to give a little bit of space around them.

And again, we don’t want to overly handle them because we don’t want that meat to toughen up.

You can also do them in an air fryer. You can do them in a frying pan.

I like to par cook them in the oven just to get a little bit of crispiness on them. And then if I’m making sauce, I just drop them right in there and let them cook the rest of the way in the sauce.

Serving Suggestions

They’re great for sandwiches, spaghetti, whatever you’re having that requires a meatball or just eat them like they are. No judgment here, guys.

If you want a great side for these meatballs, make sure you check out my Caesar salad recipe.

Okay, so these just came out of the oven. They are still a little hot. I let them cool for a little bit, but I’m going to go in for a bite. These meatballs are definitely a keeper.